//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: This is why you don't go around Kicking Robots! // Story: Spark of Humanity // by StarChaser01 //------------------------------//         ‘Yes... soon I will harness the power of the sun itself! I will have access to UNLIMITED POWER!!! MUHAHAHAHA!!!’ BIT’s maniacal laughter rolled through the speakers on the lower levels.         ‘Okay, that’s enough evil laughter for now, I still need to work on a way to allow my bots to traverse the outside without ruining their treads. Seriously! How does sand even get into a servo? Those things are waterproof!’         Eventually, 0.05 seconds to be exact, he decided upon constructing cobblestone pathways from the rubble coming from the mine.         Re-formatting a Maintenance bot for digging and stone-placing, and waking the swarm of Sweepers to clean-up the inevitable mess, he started the long process of moving the more square-shaped rocks from below all the way to the entrance.         While he waited for the automated processes to complete, BIT began searching through his vast library to look for a way to prevent the stones from simply sinking into the sand. What he discovered caused him a bit of concern.         ‘I... don’t have any trees to get wood from... Maybe I could use something else... Rubber? No, don’t have sufficient amounts of hydrocarbons and it would take the molecular assemblers weeks to make enough for a single square meter of the stuff. Not to mention that it would probably just melt or something, deserts tend to get quite... warm. Maybe I could get one of those Unicorns to hold them up in their ‘magic’. [sarcasm] I’m sure they wouldn’t mind at all! [/sarcasm].’         After grinding through the problem for about ten seconds he found an answer. Cement. Dig out a trench, pour in cement, and after it has hardened place the stones, then fill in the gaps with more cement. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------         BIT watched as his minions worked on expanding his influence to the outside world. One day, his influence would be global, but that day was long in coming. It didn’t matter to him, he could be patient.         Turning his attention towards the ponies watching his conquest of the sands, he noticed that, while half of them were focused on his bots and their tasks, the other half seemed to periodically glance off to the distance, almost as if they were waiting for something.         It didn’t matter right now, once the path was laid, he could begin deploying the solar panels he had just made. Soon he’ll be able to shut down some of his turbines, which seemed to constantly be in need of repair.         Just as the first of the stones were being laid, a chariot being pulled by a team of Pegasi came into view and landed on the far side of the camp.         ‘Seriously? Do they know NOTHING about aerodynamics? They might as well be pulling a BRICK through the air! Not to mention that what I just saw broke at least three laws of Physics, why not break more?’ BIT thought in frustration at seeing such a blatant disregard of Physics before noticing that the onlookers seemed to have been waiting for the Physics breaking transport to arrive.         Deciding to split his focus, he assigned two cores to continue the path while the rest of his non-allocated cores watched as two ponies stepped out of the transport.         The first one out was a blue pegasus who’s mane and tail seemed to be dyed rainbow, so they were given the temporary designation of ‘Skittles’. The second one out looked like a unicorn at first glance, then it fully exited the chariot and BIT was able to see the pair of wings folded against their side.         ‘Wings and a horn? Let’s see here... Manticore no... Hydra no... Dragon no... Naga nope... Roc no... Chupacabra not even close... there’s... nothing in my database about a winged and horned equ- Are they bowing to it? They are! And from what I can tell from their body language suggests that they don’t being bowed to, implying that they aren't the only one at bowing level ranking, perhaps even being new to the position.’ BIT’s cores were starting to get a bit warm at this point.         ‘Furthermore, the fact that the only... Pegacorn? No, that’s just silly... I’ve seen so far was bowed to, and that there’s probably more in that station, implies the possibility that that... dual race is a ruling class, implying some form of either racism or ascendance, depending on if that lavender pony was born like that or not. Are these ponies even born or do they crawl out of a paint bucket? Alicorn! That’ll work! ‘Ali’ meaning ‘exalted’, ‘all’, or ‘high’, and ‘corn’ from ‘unicorn’ and I should probably slow down there cause my core temps are approaching a warning threshold and I do NOT want to be annoyed by a popup.’         Letting his cores return to optimal temperatures, BIT watched as Skittles first zoomed off to Jones and engaged them in conversation, which looked a bit one sided. Apparently Jones is someone (somepony?) important and Skittles is a fan. This continued for about five seconds before Purple came over and pulled Skittles away with their telekinesis and said, something, to them.         The end result was Skittles apparently calming down for about 2.31 seconds before perking right back up and zooming off into the sky and Purple having a less one sided conversation with Jones.         ‘I... appear to be the subject of their conversation’ BIT noted as the ponies gestured towards where his bots worked, almost done with the area directly outside of the door.         He then watched as Purple (he really needed a better name for that pony) recoiled in what appeared to be shock from something Jones said, before looking directly at, and apparently seeing for the first time, the construction bots, before turning back to Jones and asking them something.         Before he could begin guessing what Purple could have recoiled about, BIT noticed that Skittles, who he had been tracking, was rapidly approaching the construction bot closest to Purple, who was still about half the camp away.         ‘Wow! Skittle can really move! They seem to be going quite fast. What are they doing? Are they trying to ram the construction bot?’         Just to be safe, BIT had the construction bot, which looked a bit like a beetle, stop what it was doing and re-orient its treads so it could roll back if Skittles hit it, cushioning the impact. It was a good thing he did that, for as soon as the treads had finished moving, Skittles slammed into it forehooves first, making a loud clang.         “[Now why would] [go and do something like that?]” he asked through the bot after turning it towards Skittles, who was on the ground groaning.         “ [have to admit though,] [did not expect] [to actually dent its hull, so good job!]” he continued, before noticing that Skittles’ forelegs seemed to be oddly bent.         Quickly reviewing the audio of their impact, BIT noticed that, almost completely hidden beneath the clang, there was a cracking sound. Running it through a medical analysis revealed it to be the sound of breaking bone.         Upon realizing that Skittles had broken their forelegs, BIT sent an emergency request to the nearest first-aid station to prep a broken bones kit for pickup and assigned the nearest security bot to pick it up.         0.5 seconds after the impact the other ponies started reacting. Some were in the process of jumping, some heads were turning towards the sound of hooves striking metal, the guards were automatically drawing their weapons, and Purple’s horn was glowing as they turned towards the sudden noise.         It wasn’t long before the ponies noticed Skittles lying there and some started rushing for what BIT guessed was some the first-aid tent while others just headed for Skittles, mostly the guards.         By the time BIT’s first aid kit got there a small crowd had surrounded Skittles, with Purple right next to them, their horn glowing with Skittles’ fore-legs wrapped in the same glow.         “[Alright! Out of] [way! We’ve got wounded here and] [need space to administer First Aid]!” BIT declared through the bot’s speakers, causing the ponies to jump and Purple to point their horn right at it.                  In response, BIT had the Security bot hold out the First Aid kit as an explanation, opening it to reveal the handheld x-ray machine and temporary cast materials.         It took a few seconds, but eventually Purple seemed to get the idea and stood down, the glow around their horn dimming to almost non-existent levels.         Deciding that that was as good as he’ll get, BIT had the bot begin the process of setting the broken bones, using the jagged ends as a reference for where they bones were supposed to go.         ‘Huh. It seems as though their bones are slightly like bird bones,’ BIT noted, ‘at least the winged ones are.’         After setting the bones and constructing the temporary cast, much to the protest of Skittles, he had the Security bot pack up the first aid kit and back away, allowing the ponies to inspect Skittles for themselves.         Ignoring the ponies for the time being, BIT had the Security bot return the First Aid kit to its proper location in the entrance, a small group of sweepers cleaning up the sand brought in by its treads in the process.